Special Feature: DAM Findability Basics

Ralph Windsor, contributing editor to DAM News has written a special feature article: An Introduction To DAM Findability Techniques. The item covers some simple techniques for enhancing the findability of assets and distils advice and various other posts from a number of other authors also. Most of the article relates to improving narrative descriptions which should be offered by any DAM system but there are some recommendations for using controlled vocabularies also. The points covered are:

Why findability is an important factor for generating ROI from DAM

Why you need to use literal descriptions and keep subject related jargon to a minimum

Deciding on the length of a narrative description

How batch metadata tools can transform into ‘weapons of mass metadata destruction’ as Ralph describes them

Adapting your metadata strategy as the volume of assets in a DAM system increases

Tracking trends in search/download ratios

Separating asset catalogues to handle the task more efficiently

Metadata checklists and classification techniques

The role of Controlled Vocabularies (and hybrid methods)

This from the batch metadata section:

“Many DAM system now contain a variety of methods to batch catalogue lots of asset simultaneously and apply metadata across groups of related assets. These can be great tools for saving time, but if care is not taken, they can end up being used as weapons of mass metadata destruction where an identical description is attached to hundreds of images that are all completely different (with the result that no one can find any of them).” [Read More]